Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes expects to have his bruised and battered squad boosted by the return of several players by the time they face Hearts after the international break.
McInnes was missing eight players through injury in Saturday’s 4-1 win over St Mirren, with centre-back Scott McKenna also unavailable after starting a two-match suspension.
However, the Dons manager believes at least three of those players will be fit for the trip to Tynecastle in a fortnight’s time.
He said: “I was really pleased with my starting team against Celtic last week and the only thing I might have changed was bringing in Lewis Ferguson if he had a good week’s training. Before we know it, we’ve got four missing.
“At this moment in time it’s Aberdeen’s turn to deal with a lot of injuries, and we’ve certainly not had decisions going for us in terms of suspensions.”
Of the missing players, he said: “James Wilson will be fine, he was touch and go today. Stevie May will be fine. We’ve pulled Niall McGinn out of the Northern Ireland squad and he’ll be a doubt for Hearts, but Scott Wright will be back.”
Connor McLennan scored on his first home start but was added to the injury list after dislocating a shoulder against Saints, and McInnes added: “We need to have a look and get his shoulder X-rayed after today”.
St Mirren debutant Adam Hammill also went off with a dislocated shoulder, and Buddies boss Oran Kearney fears the worst for the former Liverpool man, who was signed in midweek on a short-term deal.
“He’s not good at this point in time,” he said. “We’ll be sending him for an X-ray on his shoulder but it’s not looking too hot.
“We’ve signed him until Christmas – he was straight in and maybe getting to the point in the game where you hope someone like him could get on the ball and do a bit of damage.”
Asked if there might be more new recruits to follow Hammill, goalscorer Simeon Jackson and defender Anton Ferdinand, Kearney said: “We thought having got Adam in we’d start to settle and everything was rosy. But we’re getting to the point now where, a month past the window, players coming to you are a project of four or five weeks to get them fit, which isn’t ideal at this stage of the season.”
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